St. Louis officials are expected to more closely scrutinize the large tents commonly set up near downtown stadiums after one of the temporary structures collapsed in high winds Saturday, resulting in the death of an Illinois man and dozens of injuries after a baseball game.

TO'HAJIILEE, N.M. — This flat, dusty stretch of prairie in central New Mexico is where the leaders of a remote, sparsely populated American Indian community envision a sea of solar panels capable of producing enough electricity for more than 10,000 homes miles away from the reservation.

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada's taxable sales in February jumped 10.2 percent from the same month last year as residents reached into their wallets to buy big-ticket items like vehicles and home furnishings, the Department of Taxation reported Thursday.

State regulators have given final approval for a Dallas-based company to begin burying low-level radioactive waste at a West Texas site near the New Mexico border, according to a letter posted online Thursday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Wisconsin group challenging the constitutionality of a cross on a war memorial in Rhode Island says it expects to prevail without the type of long legal battle that unfolded over a prayer banner ordered removed this year from a public high school.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appears ready to allow Arizona to enforce a state law provision that requires police officers to check the immigration status of people they think are in the country illegally.

JACKSON, Miss. — A former Mississippi mayor and prison warden was sentenced Tuesday to seven months behind bars for telling an inmate to lie to investigators about sex they had in a hotel room in 2009.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — President Barack Obama's visit to Iowa to talk about college costs is drawing attention to a surprising fact about a state known for education and frugality: its college students graduate with some of the highest debt in the nation.

While George Zimmerman is free on bail, the police chief criticized for not charging him after Trayvon Martin's slaying remains under scrutiny, as city commissioners want to wait for the results of a federal investigation to decide if they will accept Chief Bill Lee's resignation.

The fate of Ohio's newly drawn legislative map is in the balance Tuesday as lawyers spar before the Ohio Supreme Court over whether Republicans who controlled the process gerrymandered the lines for political gain outside of public view.

High energy prices and an economy that has been slow to rebound are worsening Social Security's finances, shortening the life of the trust funds that support program by three years, the government said Monday.

Two years after Charleston became a year-round cruise destination, the arguments over the liners and their impact on this historic city continues unabated. It's a debate that has led to a lawsuit, conflicting economic studies, dueling billboard messages and emotions that run high.

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco judge on Thursday indicated that he will not reinstate suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi or stop the city from pursuing its official misconduct case against him.

Maryland is poised to become the first state to ban employers from demanding applicants or workers hand over their log-in information for social media sites like Facebook. But it's unclear if Gov. Martin O'Malley will sign the bill into law.

The chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party said he won't seek re-election next month after days of being pressured by party notables — including the governor — to step down in the fallout over sexual harassment allegations at party headquarters.

Four inmates escaped early Wednesday from a Kansas jail where they were transferred because of overcrowding at a state prison, and three of the men — including a convicted murderer — remained on the loose by late afternoon.

Texas officials have asked for more time to phase out federal funding for a women's health program after federal officials said it was illegal for the state to ban Planned Parenthood from participating in it.

Vikings fans have long been accustomed to the refrain "Just wait 'til next year," and they heard it again Tuesday amid the fallout from a House committee's vote against the team's long-sought public subsidy to build a new stadium.

The White House is threatening to veto transportation legislation that would extend money for highway construction projects through the end of September because it would mandate construction of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that President Barack Obama earlier blocked.

As Congress investigates an $823,000 General Services Administration conference at a Las Vegas resort, a fired GSA executive who threw a party there on the taxpayers' dime has been sent a letter by his former agency demanding $1,960 reimbursement for the party in his room.

The Vikings have had no stronger booster at Minnesota's Capitol than Gov. Mark Dayton, who now faces the Herculean task of trying to keep the team's bid to build a taxpayer-subsidized new stadium alive in the waning days of the legislative session after the proposal failed a committee vote in the state House.

Many Republicans view Ted Cruz as the Texas version of Marco Rubio, the Hispanic U.S. senator from Florida whose conservative philosophy and strong oratory skills helped make him a national tea party force seemingly overnight.

The civil rights groups that turned outrage over Trayvon Martin's death into action say their work is far from over now that his killer has been charged with second-degree murder. Next, they hope to harness the activism to challenge Florida's "stand your ground" law and similar statutes in 24 other states.

AUSTIN, Texas — When Susan Combs was growing up on her family's West Texas ranch, conserving water was part of everyday life: If the windmill wasn't turning and the storage tank at least half full, the household plumbing was turned off — even the toilets.

Bald Knob has decided to ban the only bingo operation in town, a move that's the first of its kind since Arkansas legalized charitable gaming six years ago. The town's bingo ban comes at a time when states have been expanding or considering expanding gambling options amid tough budget times.

Former Missouri Gov. Roger Wilson pleaded guilty to misusing money involved in an illegal political donation made years after he left office, and the longtime Democratic stalwart apologized for his misdeed.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a national campaign that aims to repeal or reform the laws that eliminated a person's duty to retreat when threatened with serious bodily harm or death. These laws have passed in 25 states.

Officials say a Texas mayor and an attorney were targeted by an alleged murder-for-hire plot that federal authorities say was orchestrated by the owner of a topless club embroiled in a dispute with the city.

The District of Columbia Board of Elections opened an investigation after an undercover video posted online showed an activist against voter fraud going into a Washington polling station and beginning the process to vote under the name of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Within hours of shootings that terrified Tulsa's north side and left three people dead, leaders of the predominantly black community declared the spree a hate crime and warned of a possible vigilante response.

DANE, Wis. — Wisconsin's divisive governor officially hit the campaign trail for the first time Tuesday, kicking off a statewide tour by speaking at a farm in front of a tractor, as Democrats filed signatures needed to take him on in a recall election.

City officials say a vacant warehouse had been cited for fire code violations several times and court action was in the offing when the building was hit by a massive blaze that led to the deaths of two firefighters in a collapse at an adjacent furniture store where the flames had spread.

NEW YORK — New York City must release a consultant's review of the city's 911 system and emergency response times that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration has been fighting to keep private, a civil court judge decided Monday.

The head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission promised a tough review of suspect tubing at the troubled San Onofre nuclear plant, but he left open the possibility that one of the twin reactors could be restarted more quickly.

A draft opinion that the Federal Election Commission issued indicates that it probably will reject a request from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's re-election campaign to allow her to replace millions of dollars in contributions embezzled by her treasurer with new donations from the original donors.

School suspensions were once reserved for serious offenses including fighting and bringing weapons or drugs on campus. But these days they're just as likely for talking back to a teacher, cursing, walking into class late or even student eye rolling.

Efforts to build a new Minnesota Vikings stadium stayed alive at the Capitol on Thursday thanks to a House committee that salvaged the plan ahead of a 10-day legislative break. Still, it faces long odds.

Nevada state health officials are trying to cope more effectively with phony providers. A former Nevada state attorney general is heading a task force examining the issue, and the Latino Research Center at the University of Nevada, Reno, has been commissioned to document reports of unlicensed care in the state's Hispanic community.

The state Senate voted Thursday to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut, a state that has executed only one prisoner in a half-century and is now on track to join a national trend away from capital punishment.

Two of the most explosive political issues in Nebraska — immigration and the health of unborn children — are colliding as lawmakers move forward with a bill to restore prenatal care for illegal immigrants.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says she would decline an offer to be Republican Mitt Romney's vice-presidential nominee or to serve initially in his administration should he be elected.

INDIANAPOLIS — Austin Carroll was fighting insomnia when the Indiana teenager turned to Twitter for relief and casually dropped the F-word multiple times, apparently to demonstrate to his followers that the expletive would fit almost anywhere in a sentence.

Surging above $1 trillion, U.S. student loan debt has surpassed credit card and auto-loan debt. This debt explosion jeopardizes the fragile recovery, increases the burden on taxpayers and possibly sets the stage for a new economic crisis.

A day after Seattle's mayor proposed nearly two dozen police reforms in response to a damning federal report, U.S. Justice Department representatives delivered their own list of proposed changes during a closed-door meeting with city officials.

Embattled first-term Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will face a recall this spring after an election was ordered following the collection of more than 900,000 signatures in the wake of his push against union bargaining rights.

People queuing up for Mega Millions tickets aren't the only ones salivating over the record $540 million jackpot that could be won Friday -- some state governments struggling through lean times know a hometown winner would bring a tax bonanza.

A judge in the state of Oklahoma struck down a state law requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them and to listen to a detailed description of the fetus before the procedure.

After the failure of repeated efforts to end llinois legislators' power to hand out a few scholarships every year without regard to students' needs or qualifications, opponents are making a new push to eliminate the waivers.

Don Bivens, a top Democratic challenger in Arizona's U.S. Senate race, announced that he was ending his campaign because a competitive primary battle was draining resources the party needed to win in November.

Idaho's Republican-controlled Legislature is backing away from a bill requiring women seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound first, capping weeks of Capitol demonstrations, a live Senate ultrasound exhibition on pregnant women and threats against at least one lawmaker.

Amazon.com Inc. announced plans for a $150 million warehouse and distribution center in southern Indiana after state officials gave the online retailer two more years before it has to start collecting sales taxes from customers.

Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee defrauded at least 50 candidates, officeholders and political organizations out of $7 million in a scheme that dates back more than a decade, according to a court filing by federal prosecutors.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says his successor shouldn't live in the mansion that has long been the official mayoral residence because it would reduce the number of official events that can be held there and would burden the city with unnecessary rental costs.

The Obama administration forged ahead on Tuesday with the first-ever limits on heat-trapping pollution from new power plants, ignoring protests from industry and from Republicans who have said the regulation will raise electricity prices and kill off coal, the dominant U.S. energy source.

With a potential shutdown of federal highway and transit programs looming, House Republican leaders abruptly canceled a vote Monday on three-month extension bill aimed at keeping aid flowing to states while Congress debates an overhaul of transportation policy.

New Mexico activists have ramped up their call for a Justice Department probe into Albuquerque police after officers shot and killed two men last week, bringing the total of such shootings to 18 in just over two years.

A long-running dispute over exactly what an "unnamed gray, two-story vessel approximately 57 feet in length" was has landed before the U.S. Supreme Court. The outcome will determine whether federal maritime or state laws apply to structures that are moored, more or less permanently, in one place.

The U.S. Justice Department could bring a hate crime charge against the shooter in the killing of a black Florida teenager if there is sufficient evidence the slaying was motivated by racial bias and not simply a fight that spiraled out of control, legal experts and former prosecutors say.

Gov. Gary Herbert will sign a bill that demands the federal government relinquish control of public lands in Utah by 2014, setting the table for a potential legal battle over millions of acres in the state.

Government auditors say federal officials know nothing about thousands of miles of pipelines that carry natural gas released through the drilling method known as fracking, and need to step up oversight to make sure they are running safely.

A review team appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to examine Detroit's troubled finances determined Wednesday that a "severe financial emergency" exists in the city, a finding that could lead to the appointment of an emergency manager should state and city leaders fail to agree on an alternative solution in time.

The Idaho Capitol was part medical clinic, part reality TV show and all cultural battlefield on Wednesday, as an anti-abortion advocate secured a basement meeting room to conduct live ultrasound procedures on six women before a mostly female audience of 150.

Florida is among 21 U.S. states with a "Stand Your Ground Law," which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight. The self-defense law helps explain why a neighborhood watch captain has not been arrested in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager — a case that has caused widespread outrage.

The Justice Department says juveniles were subjected to sexual misconduct and other abuses at a privately run Mississippi prison, though the report comes three weeks after plans were revealed to move youth to another facility.

A Michigan judge restored power to Flint's mayor and City Council, the latest legal setback for Gov. Rick Snyder and a state law giving state-appointed emergency managers sweeping powers to help struggling cities and schools fix their finances.

The San Francisco mayor says he's suspending the city's embattled sheriff and intends to permanently remove him from office following a domestic violence conviction involving the law enforcement official's wife.

An unarmed black teenager shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain told his girlfriend moments before he was killed that he was being followed, a lawyer said Tuesday as federal and state prosecutors announced they would investigate.

A Republican Idaho lawmaker's suggestion on the Senate floor that a doctor should ask a woman who says she was raped if the pregnancy could have been "caused by normal relations in a marriage" brought a rebuke from another legislator who said it's insensitive and suggests women may lie to get an abortion.

The nation's security and economic prosperity are at risk if America's schools don't improve, warns a task force led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joel Klein, the former chancellor of New York City's school system.

Connecticut lawmakers will be discussing Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposal to impose minimum standards for electric and gas utilities for emergency preparation and restoring services to customers in an emergency.

A bill that would let more Arizona employers drop coverage for birth control drugs stalled in the state Senate because of increasing opposition from women who feared they would have to reveal private health information to employers.

There was a verdict in the wrenching Rutgers webcam spying case, but no resolution to a broader question that hovered over it: To what extent are hate crime laws a help or a hindrance in the pursuit of justice?

Billy Frederick Allen spent more than 25 years in prison before an appeals court overturned his convictions in two murders. Three years after winning his freedom, Allen is fighting the state again — this time for the $2 million he says he's owed for wrongful imprisonment.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels will be able to choose a replacement for Indiana's ousted top elections official following a state Supreme Court ruling that found Democrats waited too long to challenge the GOP official's candidacy in 2010.

North Dakota's Supreme Court grilled the state Board of Higher Education's lawyer Thursday about the board's tardiness in challenging a law that requires the University of North Dakota's sports teams to carry the Fighting Sioux nickname.

British Prime Minister David Cameron met Thursday with the mayor of Newark to learn about education reforms and other programs in the impoverished city before concluding his trip to the United States with a planned visit to New York City and the 9/11 memorial.

The debate over how best to help Detroit avoid going broke escalated into a war of words Wednesday as Gov. Rick Snyder urged the city to get over a "cultural challenge" by accepting his plan for reviving its finances, and local officials snapped back that they're up to the job.

The nation's largest public pension fund lowered its forecast Wednesday for investment returns and asked the state of California, school districts and local governments to increase contributions — a move that could siphon more money from basic services.

Steeped in history and symbolism, red, white and blue poles spinning in front of storefronts are an increasing source of friction between barbers and beauticians. Minnesota and Michigan are the latest fronts in a spreading legislative campaign to reserve the swirling poles for barbers.

Former Gov. John Baldacci said that he's not running for the U.S. Senate, saying he and his family don't want to leave Maine to move to Washington, where he previously served eight years in the U.S. House.

The state's capital will move forward with an emergency purchase of toilet paper and paper towels. Supplies of both dwindled in city buildings while the administration and City Council quarreled over a contract to resupply city government.

State officials aiming to put cash-strapped Detroit on a strict financial diet delivered an ultimatum Tuesday with a plan to shift political power, consolidate public utilities and shrink city staff and salaries.

Lawmakers in California's Assembly will hit the campaign trail this year, touting their votes on all manner of bills. Can we believe them? What they say may not be a true reflection of the stand they took when the bill was being debated.

US. Rep. Bob Turner, facing possible elimination of his New York City congressional district, said he will enter the already crowded field of Republicans seeking to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The Senate is poised to pass an overhaul of highway and transit programs that gives states greater flexibility over how they spend federal aid, streamlines environmental regulations to get projects built faster and seeks to generate greater private investment in transportation projects.

Do it your way, but get it done. That's what the Obama administration is telling the states when it comes to carrying out the new health overhaul law that will eventually cover most of America's 50 million uninsured people.

Most city voters think the New York Police Department has acted appropriately in its dealing with Muslims, according to a new poll following a series of stories about the NYPD's surveillance of Muslims after 9/11.

House members voted 49-13 to encourage private insurers to establish their own health insurance exchange, rather than having federal or state governments set one up as envisioned by the 2010 federal health care overhaul.

A former U.S. senator is zeroing in on decades-old altercations involving U.S Rep. Connie Mack IV to make the case that Mack shouldn't become the Republican party nominee in this year's Florida Senate contest.

Republican Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana and Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey served years in the Senate, bowed out because of a term-limits promise or the frustration of endless fundraising and then discovered they couldn't quit the place.

Police investigators, prosecutors and mayors in cities nationwide say the New York Police Department's secret spying is a misguided approach that will hinder the department's efforts to uncover potential attacks for years, if not decades.

Disgruntled conservatives planted the seeds for Sen. Robert Bennett's defeat long before delegates at the Utah Republican Convention made it official two years ago. Now, some of them hope to replicate their success against six-term Sen. Orrin Hatch Thursday in Utah's Republican caucuses.

Florida lawmakers have passed the nation's first law allowing state agencies to randomly drug test employees. Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign the law approved by the state Senate on Friday. It already passed the House.

An Ohio lawmaker is proposing that owners of exotic animals be subjected to background checks and required to fence their property — measures supporters say might have saved dozens of lions, tigers, and other wild creatures that were shot by authorities months ago after their suicidal owner let them loose.

Michigan lawmakers last year vowed to crack down when they heard an $850,000 lottery winner was buying groceries with food stamps. Now comes news of another lucky player getting food on the public dime

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters and two prisoners' rights groups sued California elections officials on Wednesday, claiming that tens of thousands of criminals shifted to county jails and community supervision should be eligible to vote.

In the quest to create jobs, some states are getting creative: Nevada may hold contests to encourage entrepreneurs. Ohio is giving control of its liquor profits to a group of business leaders. And Washington and Alabama are "selling" income they don't even have yet.

Arkansas legislators will make history Friday, regardless of who they vote for as Speaker of the House. If elected, Rep. Darrin Williams, D-Little Rock, would become the state's first black speaker.. And Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, would be the first Republican to hold the position since Reconstruction.

Giving letter grades to the thousands of restaurants in New York City — from humble delis to celebrity chef-powered eateries — has been a boon to business and has led to a decline in the number of cases of salmonella food poisoning, the mayor and health officials said.

Unofficial results show that a former New Mexico mayor who called President Barack Obama "the carnal manifestation of evil" and said Obama's election was part of a CIA conspiracy has been elected to his former job.

MADISON, Wis. — In the face of an expected recall election targeting Gov. Scott Walker and four Republican state senators, the Wisconsin state Assembly voted Tuesday to amend the state constitution to make it more difficult to toss an official from office.

SALT LAKE CITY — Some Western lawmakers are pushing for a showdown with Washington over federally-controlled land, picking a fight on an issue that they say puts an economic stranglehold on their states.

Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon is counting heavily on supporters from affluent Greenwich in her Senate bid, collecting more than 40 percent of itemized campaign contributions from donors with ties to her adopted Connecticut hometown.

SALEM, Ore. — Pregnant with her seventh child and desperate to kick a meth addiction, Madeline Hutchinson turned to a program from the local Medicaid provider that connected her with a mentor and other support that she said helped her get off drugs.

The White House abruptly announced Monday that it had scuttled plans to hold the upcoming G-8 economic summit in Chicago, and would instead host world leaders at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland.

As if gas prices weren't high enough, several states across the U.S. are looking to raise fuel taxes they say are needed to pay for roads and bridges that are outdated, congested and in some cases, dangerous.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed an ordinance in January requiring that actors in adult movies in the city must use condoms in order for producers to get a filming permit, and the rule took effect Monday.

For what could be the most expensive Senate election in Massachusetts history, Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is relying heavily on donations from the financial services and health care sectors while his chief Democratic rival, Elizabeth Warren, is tapping the wallets of lawyers, fellow academics, union members and filmmakers.

Interviews with voters across the country find that the segment of the GOP electorate that hasn't yet weighed in on the race is torn over wanting the race to end and wanting to have a say in choosing the eventual nominee.

A measure to ban the use of foreign laws in domestic courtrooms is progressing in Florida's statehouse, one of dozens of similar efforts across the country that critics call an unwarranted campaign driven by fear of Muslims.

Elections officials in several states are concerned that the closing of mail-processing centers and post offices could disrupt vote-by-mail balloting this year, leading some politicians to call for a delay until after the elections.

Gov. Mark Dayton, political leaders and the Minnesota Vikings unveiled a proposal Thursday to build a $975 million stadium for the team in downtown Minneapolis and called for quick action on the plan before the Legislature adjourns this spring.

Animal welfare groups reacted with outrage Wednesday after the Iowa Legislature made the state the first to approve a bill making it a crime to surreptitiously get into a farming operation to record video of animal abuse.

The two former ball boys who accuse a fired Syracuse University assistant basketball coach of molesting them decades ago lobbied Tuesday for a New York state law that would give victims more time to report sex abuse.

With Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe's announcement that she won't seek a fourth term, a number of Maine Republicans and Democrats are considering jumping into the Senate race, setting off a scramble with just two weeks before a deadline to get on the June primary ballot.

Clearing the way for the twice-delayed Texas primaries to finally land in May, a federal court on Tuesday handed the state new voting maps for the 2012 elections that satisfied Republicans who flexed their majority but soured Democrats who wanted more seats.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum calls President Barack Obama "a snob" for wanting all Americans to attend college, he may be out of step with the public's overall view of higher education.

President Barack Obama Monday urged the nation's governors to invest more state resources in education, saying a highly skilled workforce is crucial for the U.S. to remain competitive with other countries.

The high court refused to hear an appeal from Great Lakes states, who have been trying for immediate shutdown of the shipping locks on Chicago-area waterways to prevent Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes.

Republican governors insist President Barack Obama is vulnerable, but they say they are concerned the prolonged primary race has alienated independent voters and may have badly damaged the eventual nominee.

Facing a revolt in their ranks, House Republicans leaders are considering significantly downsizing a bill that was supposed to provide a long-term blueprint for federal highway, transit and other transportation programs.

A group of Republican state lawmakers proposed a new Vikings stadium plan that would drastically reduce the size of the taxpayer contribution, arguing it was the only way the team's stadium push could make it through the Legislature.

Nearly 3 1/2 years after citizens and news organizations first requested Sarah Palin's emails, state officials have released more than 17,000 records from Palin's final 10 months in office. They illustrate that the intense scrutiny of her family and work was a financial and emotional drain that forced her to step down as governor.

Scandals and dirty politics have long defined this dusty border town. So when a woman started dancing topless in mayoral candidate Gerardo Hernandez's office, he says it crossed his mind it could be a setup.

A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down a controversial California law that allowed descendants of 1.5 million Armenians who perished in Turkey nearly a century ago to file claims against life insurance companies accused of reneging on policies.

Republican lawmakers on Wednesday declined to re-evaluate the state's contentious electoral maps, meaning a federal trial will begin to determine whether the maps were drawn in compliance with legal restrictions.

Community colleges still don't get the dollars of their four-year counterparts, but they're standing very much in the spotlight these days due to their flexibility that allows them train students for fast-growing job sectors.

Critics have called it the train to nowhere and a $98 billion boondoggle. As concerns mount over the practicality and affordability of California's plan to build a high-speed rail system, even many former supporters are beginning to sound skeptical.

The assembly of the U.S. state of New Jersey on Thursday passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriages, setting the stage for an expected veto by Republican Gov. Chris Christie. Christie and most state Republican lawmakers want gay marriage put to a popular vote.

A post office described as a lifeline for residents of a tiny village and hikers traveling the Appalachian Trail is expected to close in May as part of the U.S. Postal Service's attempt to avoid bankruptcy.

As a U.S. Senate candidate from Connecticut, William Tong doesn't have major, statewide name recognition like his two main rivals for the Democratic nomination. But the son of Chinese immigrants has picked up supporters from across the country as the only Asian-American candidate for Senate this year in the continental U.S.

Gay couples waiting for rights similar to those afforded to married couples got closer on Wednesday to a legislative showdown with Colorado Republicans after a Senate committee approved civil unions legislation after hours of emotional testimony.

Once set to rule Super Tuesday, the Texas primaries may now slide into May and out of relevance in the Republican presidential race because of disputed redistricting maps that now has a panel of federal judges demanding compromise.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Some state lawmakers are reviving a push to end Connecticut's death penalty, hoping for an easier road this year following the conclusion of two widely publicized trials for a brutal 2007 triple slaying.

The mayor of a Connecticut town embroiled by allegations of Latino bias by police on Monday announced the appointment of an interim police chief to lead a department tainted by charges of false arrests and other forms of harassment.

President Barack Obama sent Congress a new budget that seeks to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade while increasing spending on areas aimed at giving the economy a quick boost.

Mitt Romney takes a hard line against congressional earmarks, but the GOP presidential front-runner had a more favorable view of federal pork-barrel spending when he was governor of Massachusetts, reports the Associated Press.

A federal judge who was vilified by Republican presidential hopefuls for banning prayer at a Texas high school graduation delivered a scathing and unusually personal response Thursday, saying those who used the case to further political goals "should be ashamed."

Ten years after the Salt Lake City Olympics, Utah officials have formed an exploratory committee to consider whether the state should bid for the 2022 Winter Games. At least two other U.S. states -- Colorado and Nevada -- have also expressed interest.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called on state lawmakers Wednesday to help him create an economic revival in Connecticut, creating more jobs and overhauling the state's public school system, including teacher tenure.

Last-ditch negotiations to save the April 3 Texas primary appeared dead Tuesday, throwing the state's messy redistricting battle back to a federal court that must now sort through a widely panned partial deal and pick a new primary date.

The U.S. Senate was scheduled to take up a bill to extend federal highway and transit programs later this week even though Democrats were still struggling Tuesday to find a way to pay for the programs.

Pennsylvania, the only major gas-producing state that does not tax the taking of natural gas from its soil, moved closer Tuesday to imposing a fee on the drilling in the vast Marcellus Shale reserves that have transformed the state in recent years.

The Pittsburgh City Council is considering a bill that would pay $75,000 to a former performing arts student who says in a civil rights lawsuit against the city that he was wrongly beaten by three undercover officers.

The U.S. Justice Department was wrong to block South Carolina from requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote, the state's top prosecutor argued in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Civil rights, labor and immigration activists say they are returning to Selma, Ala. next month to protest state laws they say will largely prevent black and Latino voters, the poor, students and the elderly from voting.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The state official in charge of figuring out how to fix an enormous financial shortfall in Pennsylvania's capital city said in a proposed recovery plan released Monday that "significant and difficult" steps lie ahead, and Harrisburg may end up seeking bankruptcy protection.

Making his first speech in his home state since abandoning his foundering presidential run nearly three weeks ago in South Carolina, the governor invoked his alma matter, Texas A&M, saying "all Aggies have a really interesting way of admitting defeat. You know, we've never been outscored, we just ran out of time.

President Barack Obama's call to shrink the military, shut bases and cancel weapons to meet the demand for budget cuts tests the resolve of lawmakers who came to Washington determined to slash the deficit.

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is looking toward the next states that hold GOP nominating contests as main rival Newt Gingrich brushes aside any talk of abandoning his White House bid -- all but ensuring the battle will stretch into the spring if not beyond.

Border Patrol agents have racked up daily overtime at a cost of about $1.4 billion in the past six years while the number of arrests of illegal border crossers has fallen to the lowest level in nearly 40 years, an Associated Press analysis of agency records finds.

Republican Rep. Ron Paul railed against the federal government during campaign stops in Nevada on Thursday, saying states are in the best position to resolve conflicts over the management of wild horses and roads on public lands.

In an effort to cut the unemployment rate among veterans, President Barack Obama is calling for a new conservation program that would put veterans to work rebuilding trails, roads and levees on public lands.

Glimmers of economic optimism. Deep concerns about jobs and health care costs. These are among the recurring themes as governors across the nation deliver their annual State of the State addresses. And the speeches have this in common, too: a striking absence of grand and costly proposals.

Groups representing states and cities in the Great Lakes region on Tuesday proposed spending up to $9.5 billion on a massive engineering project to separate the lakes from the Mississippi River watershed in the Chicago area, describing it as the only sure way to protect both aquatic systems from invasions by destructive species such as Asian carp.

The Washington state Senate passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, setting the stage for the state to become the seventh to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. The measure now heads to the House, which is expected to approve it.

Indiana is the first Rust Belt state to enact the contentious right-to-work labor law prohibiting labor contracts that require workers to pay union representation fees, after Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the bill Wednesday afternoon.

The cost of the state-appointed receiver and legal fees related to bankruptcy proceedings in the Rhode Island city of Central Falls is nearly $400,000 more this fiscal year than budgeted, and the total spent on the receivership is expected to reach $2.26 million by July.

The Washington state Senate is set to take a crucial vote on a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage. The bill has narrow support in the Senate, but is expected to pass because supporters have secured the minimum required for approval.

House Republicans are proposing to spend about $260 billion over the next 4 1/2 years on transportation programs, as well as substantially increase the size of trucks permitted on highways, according to a draft bill being introduced this week.

The verbal feud over gay marriage in New Jersey got more personal Monday with Gov. Chris Christie firing a slang term at a lawmaker, and a hero of the Civil Rights movement chastising the governor for a separate remark.

As it did in 2008, Florida went against the national parties this year and set the last Tuesday in January as its primary date. In response, officials in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina moved up their dates too.

Determined not to lose another friendly congressional district because of a sex scandal, Democrats and their allies have pumped more than $1 million into an Oregon special election race that has turned into a vicious exchange of attacks over the airwaves.

The office of East Haven's mayor was blasted with prank phone calls and a delivery of hundreds of tacos Thursday after his now-famous quip that he would address accusations of anti-Latino bias by eating tacos, a remark that left emotions raw in the town's large Hispanic community.

More than a million Hispanic voters are the prize as Republican presidential rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich campaign hard in Florida after a feisty, final debate that served to heighten political tensions with the state's GOP primary just days away.

A CIA operative's unusual assignment inside the New York Police Department is being cut short after an internal investigation probed how the NYPD, working in close collaboration with the CIA, set up spying operations that put Muslim communities under scrutiny.

Gay rights activists in Maine, the only New England state that doesn't allow gay marriage or civil unions, said Thursday that they are forging ahead with plans to put the marriage question up to a second statewide vote.

By highlighting the natural gas refueling station and the sale of energy leases on the Gulf, President Obama is drawing attention to two aspects of his energy policy: greater domestic energy production and investment in cleaner energy sources.

As the Republican presidential campaign has turned south, into the region that seceded from the Union 150 years ago, old debates about state and federal authority echo anew in phrases used by candidates, their supporters and the news media.

Mayor Jean Quan vowed to quickly reform the scandal-plagued Oakland Police Department after a frustrated judge threatened a federal takeover if it fails to quickly make good on changes agreed to nine years ago.

While the new rules aren't as aggressive as the Obama administration had hoped, they mean most meals will come with less sodium and more whole grains, with a wider selection of fruits and vegetables on the side.

Gov. Mark Dayton and a key lawmaker said Tuesday that the team must build on the site of the Metrodome -- its least-favorite option -- or state funding help for the multimillion-dollar project won't happen this year.

America's public school teachers are seeing their generations-old tenure protections weakened as states seek flexibility to fire teachers who aren't performing. A few states have essentially nullified tenure protections altogether.

After months of hearing how Jefferson County, which filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in November, is broke, residents are curious about how much local assistance is available to help them recover from recent tornadoes that killed two and wiped out scores of homes and businesses.

Washington's Legislature has enough votes to legalize gay marriage with a statement from Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen Monday who said she will support the measure, becoming the 25th vote needed to pass the bill out of the Senate. The House already has enough support, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has endorsed the plan.

President Barack Obama plans to "hang out" in a video chat room to answer questions about his State of the Union address, part of a White House effort to test new social networking tools and the latest evidence of the growing intersection of social media and politics.

As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his annual address to Congress, many goals he outlined in previous State of the Union speeches remain unfulfilled. From reforming immigration laws to meeting monthly with congressional leaders of both parties, the promises fell victim to congressional opposition or faded in face of other priorities as the unruly realities of governing set in.

In poll after poll, Americans say the economy is the paramount issue facing the nation, with hot-button social issues trailing far behind. Nonetheless, abortion will likely be in the election-year spotlight in a slew of states facing possible votes on sweeping abortion bans.

Protesters plan to "occupy" courthouses in more than 100 cities across the U.S. on Friday to protest a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that removed most limits on corporate and labor spending in federal elections.

The CIA's top lawyer never approved sending a veteran agency officer to New York, where he helped set up police spying programs, The Associated Press has learned. Such approval would have been required under the presidential order that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said authorized the unusual assignment.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Newt Gingrich, adding a fresh layer of unpredictability to the campaign just days before the South Carolina primary.

Utah has authority to prevent beer taverns and liquor clubs from offering happy-hour discounts, state attorneys said in a court filing defending peculiar regulations governing liquor in a state dominated by teetotaling Mormons.

The Obama administration is providing senior state and local police officials with its analysis of homegrown terrorism incidents, including common signs law enforcement can use to identify violent extremists.

Organizers had touted the rally, known as Occupy Congress, as the largest national gathering of Occupy protesters to date and secured a permit that would have allowed up to 10,000 people to participate. By mid-afternoon, the protest appeared to have fallen far short of those goals.

The expansion in public prekindergarten programs has slowed and even been reversed in some states as school districts cope with shrinking budgets. As a result, many 3- and 4-year-olds aren't going to preschool.

The Republican Party is beefing up its minority outreach nationwide and preparing to put its rising Latino stars on the campaign trail amid concerns that tough immigration rhetoric in the presidential primary is taking on an increasingly anti-Hispanic tone.

Mild-mannered community activist Albert Knighten found himself in handcuffs last month when police and federal agents raided his home and shut down a pirate radio station he operated out of a spare bedroom. Supporters say his bare-bones operation filled an important niche in a predominantly black section of Fort Myers, a community whose residents often feel overlooked and underserved by commercial radio.

CHICAGO — Chicago officials said Thursday they approved the first parade permit to protesters ahead of meetings set for May of the leading industrial nations and sought to quell critics' concerns that proposed changes to city laws will step on demonstrators' First Amendment rights.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mitt Romney is "a Massachusetts moderate" who "can't be trusted" on abortion and other core Republican values. Newt Gingrich has questionable judgment for "teaming up with Nancy Pelosi," the Democratic lawmaker the GOP loves to malign. Rick Santorum is a "serial hypocrite" with "a record of betrayal."

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jerry Lewis of California became the latest Republican to announce his retirement from Congress after new boundaries drawn through redistricting promised to make the road to re-election more difficult.

WASHINGTON — Congress is damaging the Internal Revenue Service by shortchanging its budget, making it harder for the agency to help taxpayers, detect fraud and bolster revenue collection even as budget deficits surge, a government watchdog said Wednesday.

TULSA, Oklahoma — A woman who keeps a partially paralyzed kangaroo as a therapy pet said Wednesday that she is moving to another city over a spat with local officials, even though they insist they haven't told her to go or threatened to seize the animal.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - An unexpected late bid by a suburban Minnesota city to host the new Vikings stadium is unlikely to significantly change a debate on the issue in the Capitol Wednesday, a team spokesman said.

CONCORD, N.H. — Mitt Romney cruised to a solid victory in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, picking up steam from his first-place finish in the lead-off Iowa caucuses and firmly establishing himself as the man to beat for the Republican presidential nomination.

LANSING, Mich. — The city of Detroit has time to avoid having a state-appointed emergency manager put in place, but city and union officials had better move quickly to avoid significant state intervention, state officials said Tuesday.

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. — Voters in the tiny New Hampshire village famed for casting the first ballots in the nation's first presidential primary found themselves in a tie Tuesday between Republicans Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana House Democrats on Monday ended a three-day boycott of the Legislature over a contentious labor bill but are not promising to stay long enough to allow a final vote on the divisive measure.

The city's 911 operators are now able to give callers details about emergency events, reversing what the Sept. 11 Commission determined were flaws in a system that a decade ago denied people inside the burning World Trade Center potentially lifesaving information, officials said Thursday.

Detroit is no longer at risk of running out of cash by April because cost-cutting and other measures are taking effect, Mayor Dave Bing said Thursday, but the city council president and others do not share Bing's optimism.

Voters in a tiny Native village increasingly eroded by storms on Alaska's northwest coast have overwhelmingly said yes to building a new school 7 miles away, a step some hope will eventually lead to the seemingly impossible task of relocating the remote community.

Most Indiana House Democrats were no-shows on the floor Wednesday when the Republican speaker tried to start the new session, a possible sign that lawmakers were walking out for the second straight year to oppose a "right-to-work" bill.

Former Republican Utah legislator Dan Liljenquist, a 2011 Governing Public Official of the Year, has announced that he's going to run for the U.S. Senate in Utah and will challenge six-term Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Senior administration officials tell The Associated Press that President Barack Obama will use a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray as the nation's chief consumer watchdog despite strong Republican opposition.

Indiana's Republican House leader said Tuesday that lawmakers will almost immediately take up labor legislation that's likely to dominate much of the state's 2012 session after it spurred a Democratic walkout last year.

President Barack Obama and Congress are starting the election year locked in a tussle over a proposed 1,700-mile oil pipeline from Canada to Texas that will force the White House to make a politically risky choice between two key Democratic constituencies.

The Iowa race remarkably fluid, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney faces a suddenly surging Rick Santorum, an unpredictable Ron Paul factor and the challenge of winning over undecided conservatives in a state that spurned him four years ago.

The Supreme Court is considering a case regarding how and when people can challenge orders from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA issues nearly 3,000 administrative compliance orders a year that call on alleged violators of environmental laws to stop what they're doing and repair the harm they've caused.

All across Iowa next Tuesday, tens of thousands of Republican voters will travel through a chilly Midwestern night to the warmth of a local church or gymnasium for caucus meetings to select presidential candidates, the first voting in the 2012 election campaign.

Just as Medicaid prepares for a vast expansion under the federal health care overhaul, the 47-year-old entitlement program for the poor is under increasing pressure as deficit-burdened states chip away at benefits and cut payments to doctors.

According to a review of public documents, materials obtained by the AP and interviews with dozens of city and federal officials, the most controversial New York Police Department spying programs produced mixed results.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and U.S. Rep. John Conyers joined religious and civil rights leaders Thursday to promise protests and possible civil disobedience against Michigan's new emergency manager law that could lead to a takeover of Detroit government.

An Education Department official on Wednesday admonished Hawaii for its "unsatisfactory" performance under a $75 million federal grant the state won last year in a high profile competition and said it was placing it under "high risk" status. That means the state is in danger of losing the money if it doesn't make improvements.

The Texas environmental agency has rejected a request by oil giant Valero to get a large tax break at six refineries, exemptions that could have triggered refunds of up to $92 million that would have come out of the budgets of cash-strapped school districts and municipalities.

Oakland officials have rejected a measure that called on city leaders to use more aggressive policing to prevent disruptions at the port, following an anti-Wall Street demonstration earlier this month that blocked longshoremen from reporting to work.

New Haven is tightening its embrace of newcomers as its mayor seeks to extend voting rights to illegal immigrants and other noncitizens, a policy challenge that comes shortly after attacks on "sanctuary cities" by Republican presidential candidates.

Thanks to a dry fall across the northern Plains, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is months ahead of schedule in releasing water from reservoirs on the upper Missouri River to guard against another spring of record-setting flooding.

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will use an unprecedented week's worth of argument time in late March to decide the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's historic health care overhaul.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The state is offering at least $300,000 to families of each of the seven people who died after a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair, with more available for those whose loved ones spent days hospitalized before their deaths, Attorney General Greg Zoeller said Tuesday.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Curtis Coleman, the founder of a food safety company and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate last year, says he's considering a run for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Arkansas in 2014.

Minnesota budget officials estimated a surprise $876 million surplus for the rest of the state's two-year budget on Thursday, easing fears of another bruising political fight just months after partisan deadlock over how to close the last budget deficit led to a partial shutdown of state government.

University of California, Davis college students took a face full of pepper spray at close range from an officer in riot gear Saturday in an incident that was captured on video and spread virally across the Internet.

As concerns over safety and sanitation grew at Occupy Wall Street encampments over the last month, officials from nearly 40 cities turned to each other on conference calls, sharing what worked and what hasn't as they grappled with the leaderless movement.

Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York City Tuesday morning, evicting hundreds of demonstrators and demolishing the tent city. A New York judge upheld the city's dismantling of the encampment.

Intense national political forces were focused on a local school board runoff this week in North Carolina's capital as voters replaced tea party conservatives in a race that capped an acrimonious dispute over student busing and diversity in one of the country's largest school districts.

The former owner of two for-profit juvenile detention facilities was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for his role in a kickback scheme that led the state Supreme Court to vacate the convictions of thousands of juveniles who appeared before a now-jailed Pennsylvania judge.

The Texas state medical board is delaying until at least April a final vote on new stem cell therapy rules that could restrict or even block procedures like the one Gov. Rick Perry recently had on his aching back.

The American economy added 80,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent from 9.1 percent, the first time it has fallen since July and the lowest rate since April, the government said Friday.

After three days of Supreme Court arguments, the questions justices asked the lawyers have led to the belief that the fate of the health care law could lie with two justices: Anthony Kennedy' and Chief Justice John Roberts.